IPA DSM

I planned on doing an entry about Christmas Beer Today.... the story goes that I didn't have enough time to drink all the Christmas beers I wanted to write about, so I've got something better for ya'll.

I'd be the 45,634,902nd person on the internet to spin the proverbial yarn of how India Pale Ale came to exist, needless to say there are some serious variations on that story as well. So I will say this instead. If you're in the dark about what India Pale Ale is, basically it's a beer with slightly higher gravity (or alcohol by weight/volume) and is focused on high hop flavor and bitterness.

These days there are more India Pale Ales on the market than you can shake a stick at, and we're getting more, that's for damn sure. I certainly don't intend to give you cats a rundown of all the IPA's in town. But I want to point out a few that I like a lot that seem to be all over town.

Two Hearted Ale -

For me the quintessential Midwestern IPA is Two Hearted Ale from Bells. Two hearted is unique in that while most of the time brewers tirelessly work to find just the right blend of hops for their India Pale Ales, bells stuck with one they liked. It's one I like a lot too, the Centennial hop varietal is perfectly presented in Two Hearted ale.

For a beer that tastes as bitter and dry as Two Hearted it sure smells sweet, not in the sugary way but certainly in the floral and fruity way. The centennial hop (named for the state of Oregon's centennial) is one of the classic C-Hops (the others being Cascade & Chinook) these are a group of commonly used hops in American Ales known for their fruitiness and citrus characteristics. The centennial hop lends Two Hearted ale it's unmistakable melon & orange rind fruitiness while offering a good deal of bitterness to balance out the fruity flavors. This beer is terribly addictive and very easy to find, most grocery stores around town carry it, but you'll usually find a fresher bottle at a specialty store like Beer Crazy or Ingersoll Wine & Spirits. One great thing about Bells is that they stamp the bottles with a batch number which you can enter into their website to see how fresh your beer is, and the fresher the IPA the more hop flavor and aroma you'll get. With a beer like Two Hearted its best to find the freshest possible bottle or six pack.

Sierra Nevada Estate Harvest Ale -

This is a unique beer, all the hops and grain used in this beer was grown by Sierra Nevada on their property. This "estate" trend is something I seem to always be a sucker for and it's something that both Sierra Nevada and Rogue have been doing a great job with in the last couple of years. I've got to think it's a bit of a gimmick, admittedly though it's a gimmick I like. Last year I had a chance to try Sierra Nevada's Estate Harvest on tap on the East Coast, apparently I was very lucky as I was told that very few bottles, and even fewer kegs of this beer were sold. Imagine my surprise when I started seeing this year's version all over town. The bottle is terribly handsome and although it took a little twisting of the arm I forked over the $12 to try this beer out again.

The beer pours a nice reddish orange color with a huge off white head. The aroma is very similar to most of the Sierra Nevada IPAs Plenty of citrusy west coast hops featuring the classic grapefruit and melon rind aromatics that put many of the classic old school American IPAs on the map. The flavor is similar to the aroma with a nice soft lightly toasty maltiness buried under a rich tapestry of bitter & fruity hops. There is plenty of citrus and grapefruit accented with the most fleeting of caramel character that seems to elude many brewers yet has been nicely mastered by this long standing pillar of the California brewing scene. Here we have Sierra Nevada presenting the kind of beer that made them famous, and that's fitting for an Estate Beer.

Boulevard Single Wide India Pale Ale-

This beer won my heart in the days before we could get Two Hearted regularly, and continues to be a go to beer for me. Weighing in at 5.7% abv this is the lowest gravity IPA of the three and is really on the very low end for the style it's lucky for us Boulevard knows the secret so many beer enthusiasts forget from time to time. Alcohol is not a precursor to flavor, and the two can be happily exclusive. Like Two Hearted ale Single Wide employs the Centennial hop to get that melon like aroma and flavor, however in all the beer blends six different hops to achieve it's unique character wonderfully blending bitterness and fruitiness. The citrus and melon fruitiness stands in bold contrast to the overall dryness of this beer and create a balanced beer that begs for another sip. The aroma of the beer is a complex mixed bag of fruity, floral, and pine scented hops blended just so. India Pale Ale is a beer best served as fresh as possible, we here in Des Moines are lucky to have such a high quality IPA brewed so close to home, not to mention available just about anywhere with a halfway respectable beer selection.